Shot Deputy Being Treated

Sheriff`s Deputy Scott Shoemaker, paralyzed from the waist down when accidentally shot by a fellow deputy, is being treated by spinal cord specialists in Miami, hospital officials said.

Shoemaker, 25, was transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital on Tuesday from Doctors Hospital in Lake Worth, where he was taken after the shooting that severed his spinal cord Feb. 14, said Doctors Hospital spokesman Lisa Getson.

According to sheriff`s officials, Deputy Roger Smith shot Shoemaker unintentionally during a crime squad meeting in a conference room in sheriff`s headquarters on Gun Club Road.

Sheriff Richard Wille, during an interview on radio station WJNO Tuesday in West Palm Beach, said Smith had pointed his gun at Shoemaker ``obviously in jest`` when it discharged. He called the incident ``a horrible, terrible accident.``